A GOVERNMENT minister has caused outrage by saying cutbacks at Banbury's Horton Hospital will not reduce health services in the area and that local people will have to "get used" to travelling for an hour to get treatment in Oxford.

The statement came from deputy leader of the house Nigel Griffiths, who was responding this week to concerns raised by north Oxfordshire MP Tony Baldry about the proposed downgrading of the Horton.

Cutbacks to children's and maternity services, and other departments, were announced last week as part of a money-saving exercise to reduce a £33m deficit at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, which controls the Horton.

Mr Griffiths said: "Patients in the Banbury area may have to travel for an hour to a local hospital, but that has been accepted over time in rural areas, and it is a pity if people see it as a diminution of the modern health service."

A furious Mr Baldry said: "Saying that people will have to get used to travelling for an hour to reach hospital is crass and deeply offensive to staff, patients, and families in Banbury.

"There is clearly no understanding by ministers of a town like Banbury, which is one of the fastest growing towns in the south east of England.

"They do not realise that the Horton helps people from three Parliamentary constituencies, and that children's services which were specifically established by a previous Labour Secretary of State after the tragic death of a child, will now be significantly downgraded by this Labour Government.

"There is no way that removing services, and telling patients to travel an hour by car for treatment, can be called an improvement in local health services."

Mr Baldry went on: "Ministers need to witness what is happening in the real NHS. They need to talk to the staff who are losing their jobs in Oxfordshire. They need to speak to mothers who will soon have to travel 30 miles with their sick child to get treatment in Oxford.

"They need to understand what it means for a growing town like Banbury to have paediatric services downgraded to the sort of hours seen in the 1970s."

George Parish, chairman of the Keep the Horton General campaign, said: "Mr Griffiths' comments prove that people in far away offices do not have a true understanding of what is happening in this part of the country.

"Mr Griffiths should come to Banbury to see the true situation for himself."

Mr Baldry has invited health secretary Patricia Hewitt to a protest rally planned for the People's Park in Banbury on Sunday, June 18, at 3pm.

In an invitation letter he told her: "The Government seems to have no grip of the reality.

"If you attend our rally, you can listen to our concerns over the future of the health services in Oxfordshire. To aid the democratic process you should come to Banbury and meet those on the frontline facing health cuts."